captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> brown: large parts of new jersey were in ruins today, as it became clear the state bore the brunt of the storm from its coastline to the new york suburbs. good evening, i'm jeffrey brown. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight: we get the latest on rescue andb recovery efforts in the northeast. plus, hari sreenivasan reports from lower manhattan where shuttered businesses are cing mounting losses. >> brown: then, after a pause from the storm. it was game back-on for the presidential candidates with fare days to go before election day. we get a tupdate.et >> we know what changeooks like. and what the governor's offering sure ain't change.oo >> we need a president who nderstands business, and i do. that's why i will be able to get

this economy gointa >> woodruff: we have two takes on the battle for the u.s. senate, benning with the big money being spent in the most competitive races. we talk with npr's tamara keith. >> brown: and from arizona, we have the story of a former surgeon general challenging a, six-term congressman for an open seat. >> woodruff: plus on the daily download, margaret warner looks at another way to reach out to voters with last minute messages on twitter. >> brown: that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour." major funding for the pbs our has been provided by: ou ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us.

and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> brown: the losses in life and property kept growing today, in the wake of "sandy". the death toll reached 92 and the focus on physical damage shifted to new jersey, where the monster storm blasted barrier islands and other waterside cities.

the mas force of the orm's destruction along the jersey shore came fully into view today. town after town presented stark scenes of wrecked homes and boats, underscoring the long process of rebuilding that es ahead. one of those tow was t long beach community north of atlantic city, where army national guard troops arrived to assist. >> a lot of devastation. the island has been hit very hard. from what i understand there is roughly 18,000 homes without poeser, there is severe gas leaks, so right now we are just trying to get everything together for the office of emergency management here and the different municipalities and just assist them with whaterer needs they have going on.er >> brown: and even three days later, some long beach residents still could not believe the power of the srm. >> this was the deepest water i have ever seen, in my lifetime of being here. i was 11 in the '62 storm and the water came an inch from our house and this time it was a foot deep in our house.

>> brown: in point pleasant, the damaged boardwalk was a backdrop for workers who carried lumber and dug holes for new fencing. and shelters like this one at the brigantine beach community center were open for those searching for place to stay. >> even though we don't have anp aff, we have had incredible support from volunteers. to the north, in hoboken, across from new york city, emergency dnd national guard trucks mo through the flooded streets overnight. when "sandy" hit, the storm surge on the hudson river swamped a quarter of the city, leaving 20,000 people stranded in their homes and in the dark. >> it's really scary. we don't have that much food. we prepared a little bit. >> reporter: for others across new jersey, the loss of electricity meant no way to pump gas, which led to long lines at places where fuel was available. > an hour and 40 minutes almost. crazy. i'm out of gas though, i have less than a quarter ta, so i

had to get out today. >> brown: and financial help wa >> there's nothing more precious to people than their homes. homes are where their families are, memories and possesons of their lives and there's also a sense of safety to home. you feel like when you get in that place and you conse that door that there's a senseh of safety there. that sense of safety was violated on monday. with water rushing into people's homes at an enormous rate of speed and people having to literally swim, climb, jump for their lives. >> brown: and financial help was on the way. the federal government promised eight new jersey counties it would cover all costs for emergency power and transportation for another week. meanwhile, in new york, new images from long island showed tons of sand washed ashore by

the storm and major damage to beachfro neighborhoods. at the same time, a return to heavy city traffic early today was a sign of progress. police tboed to manage the situation, by turning away cars with fewer than three passengers on selecmabridges into manhattan. mayor michael bloomberg pressed for people to be patient with the traffic and the broader effort to get back to normal. >> we are all el this together. we are desperately trying to help everybody.al we're ying to prioritize. first thing is safety. inconvenience is down the list. if we had some people in the wrong places it was the first day gettingyit got g. hopefully it will be better tomorrow. you have to bear with us. >> reporter: still, city officials warned that gridlock was likely to linger througg.the day and into the weekend, as the public transportation system comes back online. 14 of new york's subway lines resumed limited service this morning. fares were waived today and tomorrow to encourage people to use mass transit.th >> i wald about five miles yesterday to and from work, sot

i'm happy to have the subways back for the time being. >> reporter: but for these commuters outside the barclays center in brooklyn the subway still wasn't an option. intead, long lines stretched around the block as people waited for buses to shuttle them into manhattan.te things were looking up, though, for air travelers. laguardia airport reopened today. that meant all three major new york-area airports are now up and running, albe-a not yet at full speed. >> woodruff: now to some on-the- ground reports from both states on how people are coping with the aftermath. n ray suarez begins with two dispatches from the embattled state of new jersey. >> suarez: we turn to mike schneider, the managing editor and anchor of "new jersey day." he's at their studios in montclair.da mike, has it really started to dawn on people now just how t badly the state was it? >> i think so, ray, you go

through this kind of psychological roller coaster as the storm approaches and people gear up for what they believe is coming. then think live through the event itself, then the next day they get outside and look around and realize exactly what has happened. inform this case there was n way to anticipate what was going to happen becse the destruction on this level has never occurred in this state before. it's the worst storm in the history of new b jersey and according to some people maybe, in fact, one of the worst storms ever to hit the united states. >> suarez: how are the peoplen the worst damaged areas managing to get through basic necessities of everyday life: food, shelter? >> it's tough and it varies. in the more urban area you've seen swift boat crews go out, rescue these people and take them to shelters where they will be fed and have a place to sleep and depending upon what level of shelter they go to they might bs able to get home sooner rather than later. but at that this point if you're from the barrier islands, t ones hardest hit down the shore, governor christie issued an executive order telling everybody to get off the beach--

his famous phrase-- some people didn't listen and, in fact, they were kind of trap there had right now. some of them have been rescued as well. the governor at this point is talking about lifting some of the travel bans in some select communities, curfews remain in effect in all those communities, however. but for many of these people it's case of getting to family or friends or o shelters and hoping that those necessities will be there for them at that place. >> suarez: was today the day when a lot of people really got to take stock of just what they had lost? their first look at their homes? >> well, it's interesting you should say that, ray, because so many people in the state don't have power it's hard to say how many people know exactly how widespread this damage has been. governor christie took a tour yesterday of the inland areas before his encounter with president obama and he went to a town called sayerville where he went door to door meeting with the people who came out to talk to him, shake hands. he was bolstering their spirits but in some cases there were

people who broke down in his arms and cried and he became more than the chief executive of this ste, he became the consoleer in chief, if you will. and that is a story that repeated itself a number of times later in the ty. the governor and president obama took a helicopter ride over the area from atlantic city down to an areahere the governor had told people to get ohe and in many cases they didn't and he kind of jokingly but firmly let them know when they were speaking a couple minut after the video you're seeing right now, he let them know he was not happy with them but he'd give them a break thisnuime around. but it's just a veryi, very kind of like -- this is a -- you know it's not a big state geographically but it's a very densely populate state and very diverse when it comes tola geography as toll. the highlands took a tremendous hit because that's where the winds seemed to be the stongest and trees came down and power is out there and there's no telling sten it will be restored. along the sngre, of course,

you're seeing some of the damage that occurred there where once stood houses there are now waves in some cases. then you go up farther north closer to new york city across ree hudson and you have places like jersey city and hoboken, lplaces that are populated with an awful lot of people. in fact, those two cities have been referred to as the most densely populated areas in the united states. and they ere underwater. they simply did not expect that level of damage and destruction to come their way and those people had to be boated out as well. there's no telling when they can go back. >> suarez: youe touched on it before but i want to talk about the restrictions because often post-flood areas are dangerous to be in. there are things in the water you can't see. the houses themselves have gas leaks, sometimes electricity problems. are there tight controls on who can get in, who can get out and how long they can stay? >> absolutely, ray. some of these communitys the o restrictions remain in effect no

getting off. in some places the governor didn'have to issue that order. iridges are out in a number of communities as aell. in some of the video you can see behind me right now, they've had encounters dw w gas leaks. just this afternoon one of the gas companies, new jerseyhe natural gas, announced it was cutting off the gas flew to that area to stem thos fires. as a result is. presume that soe people with gas service might lose that service for a while ces like the ones youli see behind me right now, there are no people who use the gas service there because no people basically can stay there. you're taking a look at places that were lovely beach side communities, bay state communities and now it basically houses lifted off their foundations and surrounded by the beach. >> suarez: michael schneider is with us from new jersey. nighttime temperatures dropping toght, michael, soght's probably going to be pretty cold for those people tryg to shelter in their homes. tank for joining us. >> thank you, ray. >> suarez: next we get to katie

zez that of the associated press. we're talking to her by phone in hoboken, new jerseyan because we couldn't get studio community there is. hoboken is a densely populated place, built up high, rises, what's it like there? >> the floodwaters have receded in hoboken, the streets are completely dry but the mayor estimates 95% of the residents are still without power and that power could take us seven to ten days to get back. but fema officials are here working with the utilitys so they stressed it could be much sooper and they want it to be much soaner th that. >> suarez: there must have been a lot of water in basemts, in any place below ground level, though. >> there is, yeah.ts there's a lot of damage, as there is all around new jersey, from rising waters. one other issue they hav in h hoboken because there are a lot of high-rises many people, especially elderly people, stayed in their high-rises. so now that there's no power they're not able to get back down. so there's a concerted effort to get around to especially elderly

housing complexes and deliver those people food and water ande medicine as well. they have a fewnd pharmacists, nurse practitioners going around toeoeople helping them get the medication they need if they're unable to get out of their homes. >> suarez: aren't there towns very close to hoboken north and south on the hudson river that aren't as heavily affected? >> there are. jersey city is one. jersey cityid get waterge but in the downtown area much of th power is back already. some of it came back yesterday. so there are towns around that are not as hard hit, they didn't taken a on the amount of water that hoboken did. >> suare let's head down the shore to seaside heights where you'velso done reporting. what's it like there? >> it's scene of absolute devastation. it holds seaside heights and a fewl her towns, it's a barrier island and it's devastated. in seaside height there is's a

famous board walk which for years it has been used by families for summer vacation and more recently it was made famous by mtv's "jersey shore." the board walk is completely destroyed. there was a number of amusement park rides there. one at casino pier, the rides are completely gone. they're not there anymore. most dramatically in the ocean there is a massive roller coaster just bobbing the waves. >> suarez: a lot of the houses are smaller frame structures. they seem to be off their foundations, moved around, scattered, crashed into each otr. ke?tli it it >> absolely. th ine isis a house thato goted phs to the middlef route 35 which is e main thoroughfare on the island. the house is completely turned on its side almost like ae doll ed over.ust pu roofs are buckled in, there's debris in lawns, roofs are ki of here ised off almost like a sardine can, they just kind of came off and you can see them hanging there. there's been one very k dramatic

oscehen te beach whenoun comem he bridge,'sthereov aed re piupck truck that's in a sinkhol it's unbelieve to believe see this car sticking out of the ground. >> suarez: is anyone allowed to spend the night there or is there a curfew in effect in seaside heights? >> there is a curfew in effect. n number of people did ride out the storm and official are still going door to door doing search-and-rescue efforts to see if there's anyone left in their home. those who are there are going to be asked to leave because there's still gas fires burninge the's still gas lines and there's still power lines down ofd there's a scagnfiie amomount damage. there,rewho ydta s wspokeith one,epoa sid - his exa qteuowas "it waseik lwa being at groundin zero." thewa ter camein t,e h tnd, the rain.th he said it w plom cetelyy fri bteningeing there.ni over the idgeerto gethere because residents wo'tbe allowedk bac until this weekend at the earliest to

gather b thirth belongings and check on their homes. >> suarez: katie zezima of the associated press, thanks for joining us. >> thank you. >> brown: now, back to new york. hari sreenivasan is in manhattan today examining the impact the storm has had on businesses struggling with flooding and other damage. >> it got to about here. >> reporter: marco pasanella knows first hand how high the water got in his wine store because he and his family rode out the storm in their apartment abe. >> all of a sudden, we saw like. a sheet of water come through the front door, within minutes it just, bam, opened up there was like four feet immediately, and we ran upstairs and we looked out the window, all of south street was just a black river. it was scary. >> reporter: the fear is gone, but he is left with the uncertainty of what will be covered by insurance as he tries to rebuild. he says it will cost him into

the hundreds of thousands of dollartoto replace everything in his store six feet and below, from the warped wood to the not so drywall.to for his business, the timing could not have been worse. >> we're entering the holiday season and a wine and liquor store like ours can often earn up to 60% of their revenue in the last two months of the year. 2118 so this is going to hurt us hard. >> reporter: around the historic south street seaport neighborhood of lower manhattan, most of the businesses took a direct hit as the east river surged. most of the walls will have to be replaced before mold and mildew can creep in. >> until they get power, until they get electricity, until they clean out their systems, until they can get the board of alth to look at the conditions, makel sure everything is okay, it could take couple of months. o >> reporter: richard berry helped develop the property featuring nearly a hundred nts and a dozen small businesses.nt he says they still have to check t see if theuildings were moved by the rivers surge. now the concern is ether

everyone was insured properly. >> water damage insurance, which you cover automatically its not flood insurance if water comes up its a flood, if water comes down its water damag >> reporter: varying insuranceam estimates place the costs of sandy above $7 billion, as much as a third of that could come from new york alone. those costs keep bubbling upward each night as parts of the financial district and theea city's transportation tunnels keep pumping millions of gallons water out. and as night after night a third of manhattan island remains without power, in the dark and out of wor w >> i have 30 employees out of work right now, and we probably won't be able to get everybody back to work for another week or so, that's unfortunate. >> reporter: david trotta knows that those are paychecks that

maer for the employees ofer jack's coffee, and he says they're sprinting as fast as they can to rebuild a sense of community by getting back to business. >> so in some form i would guess that myself and the old manager of this store will be here with a six foot table, a couple of burners and some kind of camp setup and just making french press coffee tomorrow. >> woodruff: and there's more about the storm online. you can scroll through images of the overwhelming scenes from the new jersey coastline. those are on our website. >> brown: still to come on the "newshour": five days and counting until election day; big spending on senate races; a contest to watch in arizona and the outreach to voters online. but first, the other news of the day. here's kwame holman. >> holman: some 150,000 people were in shelters in southern india today, after a tropical storm slammed ashore.rn at least six people were killed there, and in neighboring sri lanka.

the storm brought heavy winds and rain, flooding streets and subway tunnels in the indian city of hyderabad. it also grounded an oil tanker with 37 crew on board. most were rescued, but five remained missing.y in syria, rebels killed 28 government soldiers in a series of attacks in the northern part of the country. anti-regime activists said gun battles erupted at three military checkpoints surrounding the city of saraqeb in idlib province. the checkpoints line major supply routes to aleppo, the untry's largest city and a major battleground. the ousted president of penn state university graham spanier will face cover-up charges in an chld sld abuse scandal. prosecutors today filed counts of perjury, obstruction and failing to repect susp ated abuse. in additsuon, they added counts againstddthletic directorin timothy curley, and gary schultz, a former penn state vice president. the scandal revolved around jerry sandusky, the former

assistant football coach now in federal prison for sexually ys.sing young october turned out to be a big month for u.s. auto sales. figures out today showed toyota led the way with a sales gain of almost 16%. chrysler reported its best october since 2007 with a 10% increase. g.m. sales were up 5%, while ford's numbers increased not quite half a percent. wall street headed higher after new reports showed consumer confidence and manufacturing on the rise. the dow jones industrial averagr gained 136 points to close at 13,232. the nasdaq rose more than 42 points to close at 3,020. those are some of the day's major stories. now, back to judy. >> woodruff: after devoting the first half of the week to hurricane sandy and its aftermath, the president returned to the campaign trail today. with the election around the corner, mr. obama received a surprise endorsement.

with the devastation of the megastorm consuming his attention, new york city mayor michael bloomberg surprised the political world today by endorsing president obama for re-election. in a statement, bloomberg said the hurricane's cost "in lost lives, lost homes and lost business brought the stakes of s presidential election into sharp relief."id he credited mr. obama with taking major steps treduce carbon consumption and noted not only president obama's position on climate change, but also on s woman's right to choose and marriage equality as evidence of a vision different from that of mitt romney. the news came as the president returned to the campaign trail, stopping first in green by, wisconn. he revived his own slogan of 2008 to question mitt romney's ideas. >> governor romney has been using a his talents as a salesman to dress up these very same poalcies that failed ourha

country so badly, the very same policies we've been cleaning up after for the past four years. and he is offering them up change. ( laughter ) he's... he's saying he's the candidate of change. well, let me tell you, wisconsin, we know what change looks like. ( cheers and applause ) and what the governor's offering sure ain't change. >> woodruff: polls currently give the president a slight edge in wisconsin. but nationally, they are mostly dead even. romney spent his day in virginrga tied state, telling a crowd in roanoke, that the president is clueless when it comes to business.a >> and so we came up with an idea last week, which is he's going to create the department of business. ( laughter ) i don't think adding a new chair in his cabinet will help add millions of jobs on main street.

we don't need a secretary of business to understand business; we neea president who understands business, and i do. that's why i will be able to get this economy going. >> woodruff: a charge his n running mate paul ryan continu later in colorado. >> he's got a new idea for the >> you know, we already have a secretary of business. it's actually called the secretary of commerce. that's what this... that's what this agency does. >> woodruff: meanwhile, vice inresident joe biden spent the day in iowa, where he attacked ryan's budget plan. >> look, ryan saying that his budget doesn't cut-- it just slows-- is a little like romney standing in an unemployment line and saying to the unemployed guy, look, i want to make it clear to you: i didn't outsource your job; i just offshored your job. >> woodruff: in fact, today the candidates, their running mates, spouses and surrogates blanketed seven toss-up states around the country. former president bill clinton has hit the trail hard, appearing today in wisconsin and ohio on behalf of the president.

>> but i am far more enthusiastic four years ago. >> woodruff: clinton was in minesota earlier in the week, where the romney campaign recently announced a new ad buy. it's a place both sides had earlier assumed would belong to the democrats. the obama camp countered with a new ad featuring the endorsement of former secretary of state colin powell, ran it there and in nine other states. >> i think we ought to keep on the track that we're on. >> i'm barack obama and i approve this message. >> woodruff: but the romney campaign also beganiring a spanish-language ad in florida tying obama to latin american dictators g go chavez and fidelv castro. >> we are america's women. >> woodruff: and american future fund, a super pac supporting romney is running ads targeting women in michigan and pennsylvania, states considered safely democratic.

as you can see on the "newshour's" vote 2012 map center" there are seven states currently considered by the associated press to be true toss ups: nevada, colorado, iowa, ohio, virginia, florida and new hampshe. it shows each candidate's quickest potential path to 270 electoral votes. including one scenario gimpng president obama a path too victory, winning nevada and ohio, to get to 277 electoral votes. for mitt romney the path could also lead through ohio, and blanketing the south, to get to 281 in a different scenario. and there are also several potentials for a tie. this one shows the president losing nevada but winning ohio, to get to 269 for both candidates. and late today, the "newshour" got word that romney will make a last-minute stop in pennsylvania over the weekend.

we explore the race and the states in play with jonathan martin of politico and margaret talev of bloomberg news. welcome to yoboth. so let me start with you, han. the president's back on the trail today. what is the state of this race? how do two campaigns see it? >> both are projecting confidence because that's what you do when yti're four days out from election day, judy. but looking at the maps and the polling it's clear that president obama still has a narrow advantage in terms of how you get to 270 el ftoral votes. two big developments to me have happened in the last 48 hours. the first one is the kino of ads governor romney is running. you mentioned one of them in your piece, that's the one in florida linking president obama to chave and castro. the other one in ohio where governor romney for the first time brings up the auto issue where he's been battered on. neither of those ads were released to the press, they were

just put on the air. that, as you know, is a giveaway that they don't want that ad to be written about, they want voters to see it. and that to me says they still have to move numbers in both florida and ohio and the second big thing, judy, the fact that governor romney on sunday is going to be in the philadelphia suburbs, that really speaks to the fact that they're looking for a way to 270 besides ohio. >> woodruff: margaret, you cover the white house, you're talking to them. they're hearing what the romney people are doing, what are the obama people saying? >> they sure feel better than they did about a week agowh and while they n't like to talk publicly about the linkage between the superstorm sandy and political impact it's clear that they feel that they have derived political advantage from this. it stopped the perception of momentum for romney, it changed the subject. it focused the dynamic on president obama being able to bi bipartisan and it put governor romney out of play because he wasn't in the position to do anything official.

and so at least from the perception standpoint they do feel as if thin aree turnng more in their favor in the final daysu. >> woodruff: jonathan, what are you picking up about the storm and the impact of it happening? the impact that it happened at all and the role that the president has played in the storm and the aftermath on the campaign? >> i hink the mor impact is it really suspended the campaign for effectively 48 hours. there was no campaign. and really still now two days later much of the news coverage is devoted to the storm. so i think that has hurt governor romney who has tried to really drive an aggressive message against president obama. he for two days couldn't do that as not beenthat helpful to him. again, any time president has the opportunity to show himself as above politics, as being a commander-in-chiefthe public service element of thepu job not the political side of the job is beneficial for the incumbent. an certainly images of this

president and perhaps the most famous governor in america, chris christie, a republican, side by sidewalking around the board walk on the jersey shore, that's what president obama could not have asked for for the final five days of this campign judy. >> woodruff: margaret, what about these states? i looked again at this list of states the president is going to over the next several days. it's the same battlegrand states we've been focused on. we showed them there in the a.pe p of the states considered tossups. do they see movement in onep state or another? and how do they read the romney going to pennsylvania, running ads in minnesota? >> sometimes when you go to a state that's a rea it's because you want to expand your win. there not reading this that as what gove ror romney is doing in pennsylvania. as jonathan said, they're orlooking at it as governor romy looking for an alternate path to 270. don't forget, president obama is closer than he wants to be in a lot of places: colorado, nevada, nevada should have been tucked away a while ago. >> wisconsin even. >> wisconsin. and so the fact that he is

returning to these places again and again and again, they'll say we're doing everything we can, of course we're going to fight to the end. but it's more than that.s it's a sgn that they are not entirely secure. on the aher hand, ohioh is looking stronger for them, a little bit more sioure for them and that's important. >> woodruff: pick up on that,or jonathan. why is ohio still the state that both campaigns are so focused on and spending so much time in? >> because if govnor romney doesn't have ohio he has to effectively draw an r incite strait to get the 270. he has to put gether an array f other states that almost certainly include wisconsin. and i was in wisconsin last week. it's close, president obama's going back to milwaukee and madison here in the coming days but it leans towards president obama. so that's why governor romney is so focused on ohio and for president obama, his campaign thinks on they can keep romney out of ohio, if they can deny romney ohio he cannot get to the president. that's why you're seeing bothnk candidate there is so much.

but one more fast pneint and tht is that both -- all of these states are pretty much three or four point states. look at the map as a to where president obamatond governor romney aregoing to in the final days. that list of sevenar or eight states, they're almost all competitive under five points so while it does narrowly favor president obama right now, keep in mind, these are all very competitive states, three, four points. >> woodruff: and, margaret, to that point and the point you were making a minute ago,hat is it that the obama folks feel they need to do in these final days? >> if today is a road map for the next few days, what they feel they need to do is return to the high ground, so th speak. today you did not here a lot of rom indonesia, you heard a lot of "look at the storm, this is what we can do -- romnesia" we need to hold hands and buckle down. they want that to be the message and for president obama to be able to clo the final days of this race with him saying i'm tyour president and i will

continue to be a presidere and bring everyone together. he would love to return to thati hope and change message. he hasn't been able to do so in recent weeks because they were weakenedrom a position. this allows them make that transition and they'll take it. >> woodruff: well, we hear you both. you guys willtcbe wahing from now until election day and we'll watch with you. margaret talev, jonathan martin, thank you both. >> thank yo w judy. >> woodruff: does the electoral college system work? political analyst eric black of minn post, a nonprofit news site, considers that question and offers some historical rspective, on our website.rs >> brown: and we turn from presidential politics to two looks at the battleor control of the senate. the "newshour" and npr have partnered with kantar meditrc- mag to examine television advertic-ng spending this campaign season. the final part of the project looked at competitive senate contests. among the most expensive races: in ohio, the candidates, their parties and oundide groups have spent more than $41 million to air 62,000 spots.ou in massachusetts, the total is

$38 million on more than 50,000 spots, with little outside spending. in virginia, $37.5 million dollars have been used to air nearly 44,000 ads. in connecticut, more than $32 million has been spent on 19,000 ads. and in wisconsin there's been nearly $30 million on almost 66,000 spots. tamara keith has taken a close look at the data. she joins us now. you've taken a close look at all of those houses of ads, too, right? >> or maybe just the top one, the most pular hits. >>pu suarez: now those sound lie really big numbers, thousandsez and thousands of ads, lots of millions of dollars. is it? how does it compare to the past? >> it is definitely bigger than in the past. ide o groups have been freedup by some recent legal casesed to spend significantly

more money or receive significantly more money, much of it has far less disclosure than in the past and they are t just all , the u.s. chamber of commerceeis celebrating their 100th year in business and they said that this year they are going to be bigger, bolder, more aggressive than ever before and that's absolutely what they're doing. they're in 15 senate races >> brown: this is one of the places where you see the changes this cspaign season is in the advertising, in the dollars. >> absolutely. there is just so much money involved. we were all stisnded s-- many of us were stranded at home in the washington, d.c. media market on monday during the hurricane and saw a lot of these adsn the virginia race. and it was justd non-stop left right left right beating each other up. many funded by the outside groups and not the candidates themselvess. >> brown: let's focusn one case, oio,iotell us what you see

there in terms of campaigns versus the outside groups. >> well, especially on the republican side, the outside groups are a huge factor. the republican candidate josh mandel has been outspent 3-1 by the outside groups in support of him. so he's been hugely helped by these groups. sherrod brown, obviously, has -- as the incumbent, had the incumbent advantage in terms of the money that he has available to spendy but he' also getting a lot of help from outside groups. they are flood there had in ohio and the markable thing isma that ohio is this big presidential state. it's not like the airwaves are free and clear. >> brown: never. >> so they're aving to spend a ton of money. ese aren't cheap media markets and they're especially not cheap in the presidential cycle. it's big. >> brown: when we're talking about outsits groups, who do we

mean? who are you talking about? give us an example and where's the money coming from? >> (laughs) now that --. >> brown: those are two different questions, let's start with the first one. who are the outside groups? >> the biggest one is cross roads g.p.s., the group founded by karl rove. behind them in terms of total dollars of the numbers we crunchd is majority pac which is a democratic group. coming after that we've got the club for growth and the u.s. chamber of commerce which has spent a ton of money now the second question --. >> brown: the harder part. >> where it comes from. we know majority pac is a democratic graup and their donors are known. however the republican spending cross roads g.p.s., the chamber of commerce, those two groups who have spent huge amounts of money on television advertising we don't know who their donors are because they are the types af groups that don't have to disclose their donors and they

absolutely don't want to disclose the dnors. that was part of the deal in getting the money from these folks.lk democrats will say it's 12 billionaires somewhe in america shoving money over there there's no way to actually know unlesmesomeone admits it and thus far there hasn't been a lot of that. >> brown: they will say we're playing by the rules." >> absolutely. those are the rules. it's the law. they are allowed to do that until the law changes they are well within their legal rights to do it. >> brown: so where else?nl stay with the outside spending playing a big role. where do you see that? >> one state where it's sort of reversed is in indiana where the democratic candidate has been getting more of a benefit. in that stat joe donnelly has spent less of his own money on ads than the outside democratic groups so that's another big

one. and virginia is huge and i've been told by people we watch these things closely, the people who watch who's up and who's down that it's made a sigficant difference in virginia d the republican candidate george allen has been vastly outspent. i think he's spe about $3 million on ads. outside groups have spent about $14 million on ads and that has allowed him to complete blow for blow with timain. >> brown: the interesting other case is massachusetts, lots of money, tons of money but not from outside, right? >> exactly. the two candidates, scott brown and elizabeth warren agreed very early on that they weren't going to have outside money in their race. they weren't going to support ia there's been a little outside money but largely speaking there's been two candidates who have raised so much money and they're just gng at eachng other

a lot. >> brown: finally, of course, we're talking money, numbers. but the content is largely negative. >> overwhelmingly negative. >> brown: you say that with a nice smile. that's nice. >> well, it's very negative. it is very negative. >> brown: all right, tamara keith from npr, thanks very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: and to part two on the senate landscape. t comes from specialt correspondent axel gerdau, who traveled to arizona to rept on a surprisingly tight race. >> reporter: on the streets of phoenix, it doesn't look arizon politics are about to change in any fundamental way. but richard carmona wants to do something no arizona democrat has done since 1995. >> i am nancy porter. >> hi, nancy. how are you? >> reporter: the former u.s. surgeon general is running to replace retiring senator jon kyl, a republican. despite the state's conrvative reputation, carmona actuallyrv could win the senate seat. >> things are going well. we havexceeded expectations. >> reporter: on the other end oc

town, carmona's opponent, jeff flake, is gearing up for the final days of a tight election most political analysts thought hwould win easily. but after a tough republican primary the six-time congressman is running in a dead heawith his democratic challenger. >> arizona cannot afford to send president obama's handpicked >> these open seats in arizona come along with the frequency of halley's comet. we've only had ten u.s. senators in a hundred years. so they tend to serve a long time. so when there's an open seat, then it's heavily contested. >> reporter: flake is convinced his record of fighting against national debt and spending policies will convince policies will convince arizonans to cast their baots for him. >> i think the state is more concerned than ever with our fiscal situation. and so i think that that is reflected in how potple vote. tt's first and foremost, what are we going to do with this debt and this deficit? that's mostly what i have worked on the house over the past 12 years. >> reporter: meanwhile, richard carmona's most obvious polical asset is his life story.

born in new york to puerto rican parents, carmona lived homeless as a child and dropped out of high school. he joined the u.s. army and became a decorate vietnam veteran before attending medical school. he was eventually appointed surgeon general by president george w. bush. carmovi also served as sheriffs deputy along the u.s. border with mexico. democrats hope that bipartisanar background can appeal to the independents, who make up a third of the state's votes.te the candidate talks abuts republican efforts to recruit him while he served in as surgeon general. >> the republican party did ask me to bome a republican. i said why? i was an independent my whole life, because i always thought that there were goto sides-- both sides had good slutions to problems. unfortunately, we got so partisan now that democracy's in lue gridlock, because nobody can agree on compromising. compromise becomes a four-letter word. >> reporter: and in the grand canyon state one issue and oneoc

hispanics make up 15% of arizona's registered voters, and a recent survey showed they favor carmona over flake by a six-to-one ratio. but in arizona, like elsewhere in the country, hispanics have not turned out to vote in the same numbers as other groups. if democrats can mobilize latinos in large enough numbers, they could win the election and that turns daniel valenzuela into one of richard carmona's most important allies. >> it's a campaign for social behavioral change. >> reporter: the firefighter made an underdog bid for city council last year and won by doing what political operatives across the country had failed at for years. valenzuela and his volunteers increased turnout among hispanic voters in his district by 500%, and 300% city-wide. he says his efforts will make carmona the first latino senator to represent arizona and turn te competitive on the presidential level in the future.te >> we are knocking on thousands of doors from now until the election to teach people about empowerment of the political process.

>> reporter: according to valenzuela, voters support h efforts in part due to their opposition to arizona's newrt anti-immigration law and the reputation of joe arpaio. the self-proclaimed toughest sheriff in america runs detention centers for illegal immigrants. >> legislation such as s.b. 1070 and the behavior of the maricopa county sheriff. it does cause frustration in neighborhoods like the one i am standing in. what we have done through hard work is to help people organize and mobilize and use that frustration in a positive manner. we are now voting, and we vote people in who will best represent the people of arizona. >> reporter: but not all hispanics feel the same way. social conservatives like tony rivero support congressman flake. recently, the city councilman from peoria organized a lunch at a church to give mr. flake the opportuny to introduce himself to latino voters.

>> i am a christian, i am fiscally responsible, i am pro- life, i am pro freedom, i support marriage, i support smaller government and i support a completetuolution on immigratin . and i believe that congressman flake agrees with where i stand. >> reporter: in affluent scottsdale, a 30-minute drive north of phoenix, leah campos sees herself as a free-market conservative.mp the daughter of a mexican father and a spanish mother competed in a republican congressional primary and now supports mr. flake. >> congressman flake has always been steadfast in his defense of americas free-enterprise syste in the idea that what makesys america great and unique is that we have always championed economic liberty. >> reporter: campos also recorded a spanish language ad that alleges mr. carmona, who she has never met, has character problems.bl >> my information on his personality quirks has beewhat i have been told, what i have

read in the newspapers and from a colleague of his who also did an ad recently. >> reporter: that tough television ad was made by carmona's former boss cristina beato on flake's belf. it started runnis the same day early voting began. >> carmona is not who he seems. >> reporter: the carmona campaign dismissed tham allegations as unfounded and countered with an ad featuring a retired female police captain carmona's swat team commander when he served as sheriffs deputy in pima county. >> congressman flake should be ashamed. >> reporter: because the race is so close, a single constituency or a single issue could make all the difference in the clection. carmona also returned the favor a >> woodruff: tomorrow night, we'll go toowa, where the issue of immigraheon is bubbigng to the surface. >> brown: and now part of our regular look at the campaign as it plays obu in social media and on the web. margaret warner has that. >> warner: and we're joined again by howard kurtz from the website daily download. he's also newsweek's washington bureau chief and host of cnn's "reliable sources."

daily download's editor in chief yslauren ashburn could not be wh us tonight.la howie, welcome back. >> thank you. >> warner: so in this final week or ten days of the campaign 've seen this frantic get out the vote drive, people knocking on doors, making phone'v calls. what kind of last-minute message are people get on their computers and mobile devices. >> the campaign is pulling out the stops on line, on twitter, arfor example, laurenxa ashburnt a direct message signed barack obama saying "use your twitter influence to help us turn out thvote." so using that network to get people engaged. e-mails are becoming fast andvo furious to potential supporters. i seem to get an e-mail from barack obama, michellend, joe biden has been beexting meex lately. there's no escape. another interesting thing, margaret, is i got an nsolicited anti-obama text message from an anonymous source and lots of people in the washington area got there. mine said "seniors can't afford tour four mo years m of obama

budget cuts to medicare." that's arguable, they're not really cuts, but point is you don't know where it's coming from. a virginia company is behind it. its conservative clients are distancing themselvess from having anything to do with these anonymous text messages. >> warner: are the campaigns themselves using these methods to get out negative messages at this stage or are they all positive? >> they are not all positive byi any means. the campaigns have web site which is n which president obama's people attack mitt romney and vice versa. so it's a mix of trying to identify your supporters and get them to register, get them to tell the friends, get them to tell people on facebook and also driving negative messages, sometimings snarky twitter-type messages against the other guy and using a technique calledth data mining. >> warner: tell us abouthat, because we had a couple interesting pieces that harry did in connection with "frontline" about what sorts of information the campaigns collect on potential voters. how extense livery the campaigns

>> there is a company that has quortified it according to a piece in the "new york times," and we can put the graphic up. it showstihe number of tracking herograms or surveillance programs each campaign is using. president obama's campaign, 76 different trackingmsprograro to sullow what potential votersog d epporters are doingrt onli comped to best buy 74. so m tso than aaj mor retailer. mitt romney's campaign playing at 40 different trking programs. these are software programs, margaret, that -- look at your browsing history, they can find out what kind of things you buy, whether you have financial problems, your dating history. just about anything you do online is fair game. we've become accustomed, i think stocks-to-seeing retailing giants do this. but in political campaigns this is something new. >> warner: does a voter know ifs they're being trackd? >> the average voter doesn't know but if you are suspicious or curious you can go to a free program called get toery and find -- >> warner: ghostery? >> ghostery, kind of like ghost

busters and find out which company might be tracking you. but 's hard'so avoid theseha days and i find it a little unsettling. i understand, i get served ads for a shirt company becaupa i bought some shirts recently. but just because i went to mitt romney's web site to check his position on something i've been getting mitt romney ads and in this "new york times" story somebody who's a fervent barack obama supporter but went to mitt romney's site to look at something is also getting these a so it's not perfect in its targeting. >> warner: do you t campaigns have any way of knowing how effective all of this -- you and uren have been hearing for months how the social media -- do you have any way of knowing how effective a's been? >> they can't know for sure but there are several rough indication. for example, aswe know, both campaigns have raised a lot of money online and through text a messaging. >> pelley:. >> warner: and that's easy to

see? >> sure, and the obama campaign in particular tried to match the turnout if it can of i 2008 in registering voters and we were talking about how 25,000 new voters registered based on a piece of information or web site the campaign put up and the t are studies showing, margaret, that people are more likely to be influenced by their friends and their twitter fans and their facebookar followers becausehese are people they know, they trust more so than some impersonal e-mail, mass e-mail sent out by a campaign. so there are lots of signs it's working, we don't know how it will translate into actual voting behavior next tuesday. >> warner: we have to hope whoever is designing the exit poll questions, there's a question did you make your decision at the last minute or a week ago, what influenced you?go >> it would be a gold mine. >> warner: it would. howard kurtz, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: again, the major developments of the day: the death toll topped 90 in theo wake of hurricane "sandy".

large parts of new jersey's coast were in ruins, even as new york city took new steps toward getting back to normal. and president obama and republican challenger mitt romney returned to full-scale campaigning, with the election just five days off. we have follow-up online to our story the street drugs knowntr as bath salts. kwame holman h the details >> holman: state officials in maine are linking the abuse of bath salts to increased rates of child neglect.et we look at that and the latest scientific research on the drug spencer michels examines propositions and congressional races on the ballot in california. and older americans are working longer and returning to the workforce rcter retiring.ti you can help paul solman look into that demographic shift. if you're an older worker, fill out a questionnare on the rundown. all that and more is on our website newshour.pbs.org. jeff?

>> brown: and again, to our honor roll of american service personnel killed in the afghanistan conflict. we add them as their deaths are made official and photographs become available. here,n silence, are eightnc more.

>> brown: and that's the "newshour" for tonight. i'm jeffrey brown. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. we'll see you online and agn here tomorrow evening with mark shields and david brooks among a others. nigh gyoud ndoot. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:ni and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

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